


Understandings (version 2)

by magic_maker



Series: Chicago Jo [7]
Category: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Antonio knows he's a jerk, Making Up, Voight's only mentioned, crossover into a rpg of mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:14:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magic_maker/pseuds/magic_maker
Summary: Kelly and Antonio "talk". Antonio and Jotalk. Things get better.
Relationships: Antonio Dawson/Joanna Maksim (Original Female Character)
Series: Chicago Jo [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120460
Kudos: 1





	Understandings (version 2)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I wasn't happy with how the last version of this turned out, pretty much at all. So i deleted the previous version, edited and expanded it, and I like this version better. 
> 
> The Donnellys have nothing to do with The Black Donnellys (real or fictionalised), and stem from a role play game I used to play in

‘You comin’ to Molly’s tonight, kiddo?’ Herrmann asked Jo at the end of their shift. 

‘Nah, thanks.’ 

‘We miss you,’ he protested.

‘You miss my money, Herrmann,’ she replied with a smirk. ‘Sorry. But there’s people there I’d-’ She cut herself off and walked away.

‘My brother’s still being stupid,’ Gabby explained to Herrmann. ‘Last time she was there, he brought another girl in.’

‘What even happened there?’ Otis asked, joining the conversation. 

‘Why’d they break up, you mean?’ 

‘Yeah.’

‘He introduced her to Voight, Antonio didn’t like the way she responded, and took off.’

‘Oh for…’ Herrmann muttered. Voight’s reputation was well known, and it wasn’t a surprise that Jo had apparently been less than impressed when they met.

The tones went off and the whole house was rolled to a mutli-vehicle accident. CPD were already on-scene, including intelligence. Kelly directed squad to various cars, and Jo bristled when he sent her to the one furthest from Antonio. 

‘I can handle working with him,’ she snapped. 

‘I know.’ His tone was matter of fact. ‘You’re not the one I’m worried about.’ Almost as if to prove Kelly’s point Antonio, who had been approaching Kelly, stopped when he saw Jo and turned away, going to Casey instead. 

‘Got it,’ Jo muttered, heading to where Kelly had directed her; only when she started working on freeing the driver of a t-boned car was she able to push Antonio’s snub from her head.

~*~

That night at Molly’s, Kelly approached Antonio who was sitting with Jay Halstead, Erin Lindsey, and Adam Ruzek. ‘Hey man. Got a few?’

‘Depends on what you want to talk about,’ Antonio said. 

‘Okay, let me rephrase that. Antonio, let’s talk, now.’ An edge replaced the friendliness in Kelly’s voice and Ruzek and Halstead glanced at each other, then at Antonio who, after a long moment of glaring at Kelly, nodded. The men departed the table but Erin remained where she was, next to Antonio. 

Behind the bar Gabby had noticed and muttered. ‘Oh boy.’

‘Wha- Oh,’ Otis replied. 

‘What do you want, Severide?’ Antonio asked, draining his beer.

‘I’m just wondering what happened this morning.’

‘Nothing.’

‘Right.’

‘Look, I didn’t know how Jo would react if I came over.’ 

‘A hell of a lot more professionally than you!’ A few heads turned at Kelly’s retort, but only Gabby and Otis continued to watch. 

‘She embarrassed me in front of my boss,’ Antonio hissed.

‘Man, you embarrassed yourself. She and Voight are fine. He was more understanding than you, and he was the one that actually had call to be pissed off.’ 

Antonio scoffed and set his bottle down harder than necessary, growling ‘You done here?’

Jaw tight, Kelly locked eyes with him for a long moment before turning on his heel and storming out.

‘Antonio,’ Erin said, putting her hand on his arm. ‘Hank is fine with Jo. Why are _you_ so upset?’ 

Not answering, partly because he didn’t know why, Antonio stood just as Jay and Adam rejoined them, threw a $50 on the table, and left, leaving his friends staring after him. Erin shook her head and finished her drink. ‘I’m gonna go find Severide. See you tomorrow.’

~*~

Twenty minutes after he’d left Molly’s, Antonio found himself sitting in his car in front of Jo’s house. His anger hadn’t abated, it had just transferred from Severide to Jo herself. A voice in the back of his head nagged at him that it wasn’t fair to be pissed at her for something Severide had said, but he was good at ignoring that voice.

Jo was watching tv when pounding on her door startled her. It was nearly midnight, and she grabbed her pepper spray before approaching her door. Seeing Antonio, she set it down, and opened the door. 

‘What?’ 

‘Your buddy just cornered me at Molly’s,’ he snapped. 

‘So? Go bang down his door instead.’ She started to close the door, but he blocked it with his foot. ‘Antonio, I’m not in the mood for your sh-’ She was cut off and he pulled her in hard for a kiss. Shocked, Jo didn’t react for several seconds. When she did, it wasn’t the response Antonio expected.

She bit his lip and jerked away.

‘Ow! What the fuck?!’

Jo glared at him, fury twisting her expression. To Antonio’s surprise and even alarm, there were tears in her eyes. ‘How. Fucking. _DARE_. You!’ she snarled through clenched teeth. 

‘You _bit_ me!’ He said, still in shock.

‘You’re lucky I didn’t break your fucking jaw!’ Her voice was shaking. ‘I am not some… some toy that you can use and discard at will, to come back to when you’re bored.’ 

‘You were happy enough with that at first!’

‘Yeah, when we were just fuck buddies!’ 

‘Whatever,’ came the muttered reply. Antonio spun on his heel, storming back to his car, while Jo flopped onto her couch for all of 45 seconds before getting up and going to her fitness room. She was hurt and angry and frustrated and she was better at expending that energy physically than she was at talking it out. After a ten mile run and beating the shit out of her heavy bag, she collapsed onto the sofa again, 

Three hours later, Jo’s phone buzzed with a text, waking her from her restless doze. _I’m sorry._

_Ok._

_I am. Can I call?_

_I guess_

When the phone rang, Jo answered on speaker. ‘Yeah?’

‘Will you forgive me?’

‘For what?’

‘All of it. I was stupid. And a jerk.’ 

‘Yeah, you were,’ she said rather agreeably. ‘I’ll forgive you. But I swear to fuck, if you do that shit again, I’ll lay you out.’

Nonplussed, Antonio paused, then asked, ‘Which part?’

‘Kissing me--or doing anything--without giving me a choice in the matter.’

‘Got it. I won’t, I swear,’ he said quietly. ‘Can I come inside?’ 

‘I- what? It’s… two a.m., have you been out there this whole time?’ 

‘Yeah. I couldn’t bring myself to leave.’

‘Yeah… you can come in.’ She got up and opened the door, where he was waiting. 

‘Hi,’ he whispered. 

‘Hey,’ she managed to get out before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. ‘I’ve missed you.’ 

He returned the hug, kissing her forehead. ‘Me too, baby. Me too.’ 

Jo waved Antonio to the couch but kept going, wanting to grab a couple drinks. She handed Antonio a beer, keeping the hard coffee for herself. As she sat she said, ‘We need to talk.’ 

‘What? Me kissing you like tha-?’

‘No.’ She cut him off as she opened her drink. ‘About the shit that started this. About Hank, and the person he reminds me of, and all that fun shit.’ Antonio tensed, but stayed quiet. Jo leaned forward and squeezed his hand. ‘It’s not bad. But I think you need to know where it came from.’

‘Lindsey said you and Voight talked.’ 

‘We did.’ She drank half her canned coffee in one go. 

‘Leave it to you to find alcoholic coffee,’ he teased, relaxing some. 

‘Hey, Irish coffee has been a thing forever.’ 

‘Okay, the pre-packaged kind.’ 

She grinned then finished it and set the can down. ‘How up to date are you on organised crime in the US. Outside of the Italians, I mean.’ 

‘Pretty well. A lot of what Intelligence deals with comes from organised crime.’ 

‘Heard of the Donnelly Family?’ 

Like Voight, he was. ‘Atlantic City based, headed by Tommy, who inherited it from his father James, brother Zachary is second in co-’ He abruptly interrupted himself, eyes widening. ‘Wait… You lived in Atlantic City.’ It was a recollection, not a question. 

‘Mm-hmm. And the Karl I mentioned the other day was-’

‘ _Not_ Karl Murphy?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you even realise the shit he’s suspected of?!’ Antonio demanded, looking hard at her. Jo just waited, arms crossed, eyebrow cocked, waiting for Antonio to make the connection. ‘Oh. Shit. You do.’ 

‘Yes. Do you understand now _why_ I was wary when Hank reminded me of him?’

Antonio nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. I do. You talked to Voight?’

‘I did. There’s shit I don’t need to know. And I told him, if I don’t see shit, it’s whatever. There’s lines that can be blurred, and there’s lines that I won’t let someone cross. You want to punch out a pedophile or rapist or child beater, I can look the other way, up to a point.’

‘Up to a point?’

‘Mmm.’

‘All right. I get it.’ 

‘I told him, and I’ll tell you: In a perfect world, men like him… who use tactics like that, wouldn’t be necessary. But we live in the real world. I’m pragmatic, not naive.’ 

Nodding slowly, Antonio asked, ‘What did Voight say?’

‘He didn’t admit to anything. He’s not stupid. But he also didn’t deny anything, and _I’m_ not stupid.’

Antonio took a long drink of beer. ‘How did you know Karl?’

‘My friend and former coworker, Kellan, was friends with him. So he came by the gym I used sometimes. Eventually, he became a sparring partner. He didn’t pull punches any more than he would with a male partner, so I liked sparring with him.’

‘So you just sparred?’

‘Occasionally hung out, if Kellan invited a bunch of people over, or if I was at one of the bars when he came in, he’d stop and say hi.’ She shifted, crossing her legs on the couch. ‘I really _wasn’t_ judging Hank, Tonio. We sized each other up, I made sure he knew I’m not a pushover, because while you may not realise it, with men like Hank, and Karl-or pretty much any male in rescue and emergency work-it’s necessary. I know you don’t see it, because you’re not a woman who has had to prove herself capable constantly. I had to do it at ACFD, and again in Australia, and again here. And every single time I meet someone new in a work setting. If a woman lets a man dismiss her, or simply talk like she’s not there, that sets the standard for all future interactions with that person.’

‘I know. I was wrong that it wasn’t a test. Gabby explained it. You were right, too, that Voight respects assertiveness-from everyone.’

‘I know.’ Jo smirked at him as she replied. 

‘You’re maddening sometimes,’ Antonio griped. 

‘I know. But you still like me.’ 

‘Yeah. Yeah I do.’ He leaned forward, his intent to kiss her clear, and giving her time to stop him; he’d learned his lesson, and had meant his promise to her. 

Before she leaned into the kiss, Jo said only, ‘I hope you have clothes in your car, or you’re doing the walk of shame in the morning.’ 

‘I’m okay with that,’ he said, his lips almost touching hers, before he finally captured them in a sweet kiss, that quickly heated up.


End file.
